In any
multi-cellular organism, there are various tissue systems. For meticulous
functioning of organisms, there has to be a perfect co-ordination among
different systems or organs and various stimuli from their surroundings. Thus,
we can infer that control refers to the systematic regulation of various
activities and co-ordination means the orderly execution of the activities.
This attributes to an organism's proper growth and development.
Plants absorb water in which minerals are dissolved from the
soil with the help of their roots. There has to be loss of water from the plant
for this process. This loss of water is known as transpiration which is brought
about by the transpiration organs of the plants. Transpiration takes place in
the leaves through the stomatal openings. This process is followed by the
ascent of sap in the shoot (translocation) and utilization of the absorb
minerals in various metabolic activities. For the above mentioned processes to
take place, there should be enough quantity of water with dissolved minerals in
the soil where the plant is growing.
Similarly,
many processes take place simultaneously in animals. Man sees food. Picks it up
and puts into the mouth. The morsel of the food is chewed in the mouth with the
help of the teeth and assisted by the tongue. The food is mixed with enzymes in
the saliva secreted by salivary glands. The food is sent to stomach for further
biochemical reactions and the complex food materials are broken down into
simple forms such as glucose, amino acids and fatty acids. The digested food is
absorbed in blood and the undigested food is excreted. Thus digestion, absorption,
circulation and excretion are inter-dependent. Oxygen is necessary to obtain
energy from glucose and fatty acids. Oxygen is supplied by the process of
respiration. It is clear from the above example that various organ system
function in synchronized manner. In short, we can infer that co-ordination is
necessary between organs and organ systems that bring about all the
inter-related life processes.
Any
disturbance at any stage due to lack of co-ordination or other factors can
leave the desired process incomplete. In order to complete the process
successfully, there has to be a perfect co-ordination between different systems
and organs involved at every step. There should not be randomness of any nature
at any stage of process or activity. These systems should be effectively
controlled and co-ordinated.
This would provide the stability and maintenance of the
steady state i.e creation of a relatively constant environmental condition
within organism. In any organism, there should be a perfect system of
co-ordination between internal activities occurring due to water, enzyme level
and temperature, etc. and such similar external environmental stimuli. The
maintenance of the steady state by different systems of an organism for its
optimal functioning because of a perfect co-ordination is called homoeostasis.
